Arthalaya Batch 16

Posted on March 14, 2013

The 16th Arthalaya took place from 8th – 13th March, 2013 at Dhulikhel, Nepal. 24 participants from 21 different colleges were selected after a rigorous selection process.

This time, key issues were inclusive but not limited to business environment of Nepal and the role of government in helping establish a favorable environment for businesses and entrepreneurs in Nepal, taxation and subsidies and how these affect business and investment decisions and contemporary issues like frequent general strikes, labor strikes, extortion of money and kidnapping and how these are negatively influencing the business environment in Nepal. Issues were selected based on what ideas may sound interesting to the younger mind.

A number of interesting guest lectures were heard and debated upon. One in particular was Dr. Bhola Nath Chalise’s session on ‘The facilitating role of the Government’ on what role the government plays and should play in market economy. This helped generate a healthy buzz among the participants. Anjan Dahal gave his input on Rule of Law in the country that helped the participants understand the link between political legality and economy. The students seemed excited at having met so many well known names of the country.

The program also included the Arthalaya Enterprise module, a simulation tool whereby all participants need to start up a business individually or in a group of four on the first day of Arthalaya. Businesses were quite unique with both service and product sales being promoted and conducted in various creative ways. Also, simulation on taxes, controlled market, bandhs and other various issues were put up as hurdles to make participants understand the basics of running a business in the current scenario of Nepal, which generated enthusiastic participation from the students.